


The Prideful and the Pocky

by orphan_account



Category: Love Live - Fandom, Love Live! School Idol Project
Genre: F/F, Gen, How I love them, Multi, OT3, Pocky Game, Third Years
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-08
Updated: 2017-01-08
Packaged: 2018-09-15 15:12:39
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,087
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9241079
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: This story is just an excuse for me to have fun with my OT3. Nothing to see here.





	

"Ladies and… smaller, mouthier ladies," Nozomi applauded once more, expertly ignoring Nico's lighthearted glare. "I believe it's a tie!"

Eli grinned through her mouthful of pocky at Nico. It certainly was a tie. Nico grinned right back, and shook the red box of pocky in a taunt. Nozomi just laughed in the background.

"Again, Nicocchi? And you, Elicchi?" Nozomi asked.

"Yeah. Tiebreaker this time," Eli nodded, "I think it's about time I stopped going easy on you, don't you think?"

"In your dreams," Nico yawned, "I'm taking this one."

Nozomi selected the box in careful fingers and drew out a single stick of pocky to hold between them, grinning madly as she beckoned each of them with her other hand to take up their starting positions.

"Beautiful ladies, take your places," Nozomi said, in mock seriousness, "the match will begin on the count of three."

Eli locked eyes with Nico, all grins wiped aside. Nico narrowed her eyes in challenge. 

It was possible, very possible in fact, that they were taking the game slightly too seriously. For most people.

Most people weren't quite as competitive as Nico was. Even less were as competitive as Eli when Yazawa Nico was involved in all of her infuriatingly cute pig-tailed glory. Nozomi, for instance, was watching them from a relaxed position on the couch, commentating for them when she wasn't simply sipping her green tea as their audience, more amused by their competition than invested in it. She always seemed at ease, even when tension between her two friends (or were they lovers now? The lines were constanly blurred between the three of them, it seemed) sizzled, and no less now as she reclined on the couch with her dark purple hair elegantly smoothed to her sides, and her unique turquoise eyes sparkling in mirth.

Eli and Nico tended to think more of competition as say, life and death. Hot-headed Nico couldn't bear to lose, and Eli was hardly a fan of losing herself.

"One," Nozomi said, setting her tea down gracefully.

Eli frowned and pushed escaping strands of blonde hair back behind her ears. It wouldn't do to have any distractions, not now.

"Two," Nozomi said, winking at them both.

Eli watched as Nico took a deep breath, and found herself doing the same. There was more tension in her shoulders and her jaw than she realized. She didn't want to lose.

'And I won't!' She promised herself readily. 

"Three!"

Eli's first bite was dwarfed by Nico's; for such a tiny girl she sure could eat. But Eli had speed, and in mere moments she was pulling ahead and nearly to the middle.

'Got you, you littl-'

Nico's hand flashed out and pinched Eli's nose shut, and in the split second it took for Eli to breathe through her mouth the pocky had vanished into Nico's.

Nico didn't even try to cover her near snorting laughter and Eli was certain that if the pig-tailed demon hadn't been laughing so hard she would have been poking her tongue out and blowing raspberries.

She found herself scowling, first at Nico, and then helplessly at Nozomi, when all she received from Nico was a diabolical grin.

"That's cheating," Eli said, not quite managing to hide the annoyance from her tone.

"Sounds like sour grapes to me," Nico smirked, and then to Nozomi, "What do you think, Referee?"

Nozomi smiled, almost motherly as she considered the two of them in that serene fashion of hers. Eli had always been more the perfectionist. Where Nozomi couldn't be startled by anything shy of disaster, Eli was more easily rattled, even if she hid it well. They'd been friends since forever, and everything else had come along perfectly naturally afterward- including Nico.

So it was a shock when Nozomi opened her mouth next.

"Hmm...Though it was an unorthodox tactic on your part, I'll allow it," Nozomi said to Nico, one eyebrow raised, her lips tugging into a slight smile.

Eli frowned.

They were an equal relationship, all three of them, and they worked hard to keep it that way, certainly. But she would have been lying if she said that she didn't consider that Nozomi and herself might be, well, closer than Nozomi and Nico were. Not even romantically, she didn't mean that. But perhaps on the friendship level, entirely separate from their relationship… they'd known each other since primary school after all!

She would also have been lying if she said it didn't bother her to see Nozomi take Nico's side.

Even over something as trivial as this?

Well, it wasn't that trivial. She should have won the game.

Eli bit her lip and folded her arms, watching without a word as Nico laughed and gloatingly selected another stick of pocky to nibble at. She knew Nozomi was looking at her, probably as calm as ever, and simply waiting to fix the growing situation with a simple Nozomi-like solution.

And surely as though she had read her thoughts, Nozomi was placing a soothing hand on Eli's shoulder in a gentle squeeze.

"It's okay to fail sometimes, you know," she said in a low voice, gentle smile smoothing the worry away, "besides, I'm sure it's not the last round."

Eli blinked.

Nozomi might be right. She usually was, after all. It was just a game. So what if Nico had cheated? (The little, no good piece of...) They were all three just lazing about and playing a silly game to pass the time. She and Nozomi were never going to lose the bond they shared. And when she thought about it, properly, she wouldn't have wanted there to be something special and secret and exclusive between she and Nozomi, when Nico was just as much a part of their relationship as they were.

"Hey, Eli!"

She looked up to see Nico holding a single strawberry flavored stick of pocky to the corner of her victorious grin, mischief painted clear as day over her features as she considered the morsel.

"Did you know that winning makes pocky taste better?" Nico flashed an award winning smile- she knew it was far too difficult to be mad with her when she was being cute. 'Nico-Nico-Nii smile indeed', Eli thought.

"Hey," Eli reached over gently to stop her from eating the pocky and grinned, "give me a chance to win some dignity back, would you?"

"Oh sure, blondie," Nico laughed and held the pocky out between them as though it were an olive branch, "I'll give you a chance."


End file.
